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Is Indonesian fisherman a victim of unlawful use of force?
As the shooting incident claimed the life of an Indonesian citizen, the government should be more assertive by filing a protest against Papua New Guinea and demanding a thorough investigation into the incident.
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Calvin 02 fishing boat, which was shot by Papua New Guinean Defense Force for alleged illegal fishing, arrives in Merauke on Aug. 23. The incident on Aug. 22 killed the boat’s skipper, Sugeng. (Antara/Private document)
The death of Indonesian fisherman and the skipper of Calvin 02 fishing boat, Sugeng, in Papua New Guinea last month was heartbreaking. Sugeng was reportedly shot by patrol officers of the PNG Defense Forces for trying to escape arrest after allegedly committing illegal fishing in PNG waters.
Within international law, the act of shooting is known as a use of force. The law of the sea convention (UNCLOS) does not explicitly stipulate the use of force for maritime law enforcement. However, the basic principle of use of force is asserted in Article 22 paragraph 1(f) of the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement, an implementing agreement of UNCLOS that PNG ratified in 1999. It states the use of force must be avoided as far as possible unless the safety of inspectors is threatened and the execution of officers’ duty is obstructed, with reasonableness and necessity as the limitations.
The action of PNGDF is therefore illegitimate according to the international law. To be clear, we should learn from several jurisprudence cases resulting from dispute settlements of use-of-force incidents in the past.
First is the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) Judgment of the M/V Saiga (No 2) case between Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Guinea. In 1997, the Guinean patrol officers fired solid shots into oil-tanker M/V Saiga during a pursuit. The officers even fired bullets onboard M/V Saiga trying to stop the engine, resulting in severe injuries of two crews.
ITLOS concluded that actions taken by the Guinean authority were classified as excessive force that endangered the life of M/V Saiga’s crews, therefore violating Saint Vincent and the Grenadines’ rights under international law.
Furthermore, ITLOS stipulates that the use of force must be reasonable and necessary, only used as a last resort after a warning and all efforts taken are unsuccessful, taking into consideration humanity and not endangering human life.
